Lara's blog

Submitted by admin on Thu, 28/05/2009 - 16:34

The season is now well and truly in full swing and last month’s highlight was the Pilot Cutter review, hosted by Classic Sailing with sponsorship from St Austell Breweries. 11 Pilot cutters turned out for the event which started off in Fowey with a barbecue hosted by Will and Arnie the owners of “Hespa”. The evening was great fun and it was good for all the crews and skippers to mingle and set up the challenges between boats for the following day – along with a lot of tactics discussions and sabotage proposals (none of which were carried out!).

The passage race to St Mawes started slowly, and despite trying our best we were late to the start as we were last off the pontoon! It turned out to be irrelevant as the wind died and despite flying every stitch of canvas we were going to miss supper which was hosted by the St Mawes Social Club! So the iron topsail was brought out and we motored in (along with most of the fleet!). The Saturday bought a little more wind and everyone enjoyed the thrill of racing these large boats in close quarters (22 tonnes of Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter bearing down on you tends to sharpen the mind rather quickly!). And on Sunday the fleet was faced with a stiff breeze from the west – perfect for some impressive sailing. “Iris” won the championships and sailed away with a happy crew. One of my favourite memories of the event will be rowing out to Eve in No.8, passing the other pilot cutters and feeling like I was rowing through a port 100 years ago, with the shore lights dim and covered by a veil of fog - such an atmosphere. Thanks to my crew of the week, Alan, Jenny, Claire and Charlie, it wouldn’t have been half as much fun without you!

The following week was a tad windy so we took Eve up river and explored to Malpas (rowing hard against wind and tide – but the boys enjoyed it!) and the young gentlemen of the crew (Piers and Dave) took a pre-lunch dip in the Fal. The ladies had the easy row back from our ice-cream mission and we almost missed the boat thanks to a big hand from the wind and tide! Well done to Maggie, Joni, Heather, Piers and Dave for passing your Start Yachting Course and we look forward to seeing you again for your competent crew.

The wildlife exploration weekend was good fun, and we had some superb sailing around Falmouth Bay and into the Helford. Gary and John enjoyed getting to grips with a traditional boat and by the end of the week they were sweating away with gusto!! We saw a great deal of sea birds of all shapes and sizes along with a couple of seals – however the dolphins seemed to be hiding from us, even though we tried to find them! We also had a few bushes turning into horses?! Marjorie was happy to relax and wind down whilst Chris helped with a little bit of maintenance on No.8 (the pump is working great thanks!!). Peter enjoyed putting Eve through her paces and pretending to be in the Caribbean! (The Cornish weather was being very kind to us!)

So I’m in the office this week, catching up of a few bits of admin and giving Julian a hand whilst Adam has taken Eve to the Isles of Scilly. I’m also preparing for the Brest Festival – which should be great fun! We depart on Thursday 9th July and should arrive in Brest by the 11th. Over 2000 boats of all shapes and sizes are due to take part in the festival so it should be a great spectacle, and French hospitality is always superb. Following on from Brest there is a feeder cruise to Douarnenez for their festival. Douarnenez is one of my favourite ports in France so I am thoroughly looking forward to getting back there.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and I look forward to sailing with friends old and new in the near future.

Lara
Skipper of Eve of St Mawes.